Furniture makers lament shortage of raw materials

An indigenous furniture company, Cyrus Kingdom Development Company Limited, is worried about dearth of raw materials as well as lack of craftsmanship in the wood and furniture manufacturing sector.

The Chairman of the company, Mr. Agu Imo, stated this on Thursday while conducting journalists round a facility tour of Cyrus furniture factory in Lagos as part of activities marking the company’s 20th anniversary.

This, he said, was happening despite the harsh operating environment, insufficient local patronage and stiff competition from European and Asian imported furniture.

The entrepreneur said that the firm had to import most of the wood they used for their products because of the quality of timber in the country.

Noting that the firm produced for the export market, Imo stated that their products had to be manufactured to international specification since they had orders from multinational firms in and outside Nigeria.

“It is our desire to export a larger volume of our products but we are constrained by the shortage of raw materials, shortage of skilled manpower and lack of market,” he said.

The Managing Director of the company, Mrs. Alero Imo, said that in order to get the quality of people that could work in the factory, it had to organise training for male and female artisans in the wood trade industry.

On the 20th anniversary with the theme ‘What does your front say about you?’, Imo who is an architect and reputed female furniture maker, said she hoped to create awareness about the quality of furniture being produced by the company.

She said that the firm combined automated process with manual one in its production and installation of doors and soft furnishings.

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